1. Field of the Invention
The system and method of the present invention relates to oil recovery operations in a body of water. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for siphoning oil from the surface of a body of water into a container vessel while the oil is sitting atop the water. The present invention also relates to a system for recovering oil spilled into a body of water by concentrating the oil within a confined space, and siphoning the oil from the upper portion of the confined space, into a waiting barge or the like vessel.
2. General Background
One of the more difficult problems in the oil and gas industry is drilling in bodies of water and the fear that a blowout would occur and the oil would leak into the body of water and endanger the environment, wildlife and human life. Of course, most recently, that event occurred exactly when a deep well owned by British Petroleum caught fire and sank and the riser pipe in which the oil was being recovered onto the rig was torn away from the rig and oil began to flow from the formation into the riser into the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of approximately 5,000 feet. That flow of oil has continued and does continue on as this application is being prepared with the oil rising through the 5,000 feet of water and reaching the surface where the oil being lighter than water floats on the water until after a certain amount of time the oil through the use of dispersants or other chemical activity become slightly heavier and begins to sink into the water and then must be recovered in another fashion.
Currently, the most common means of trying to recover the oil is to corral it in a system of booms and to set fire to the oil and oil which cannot burn or will not burn is then kept from the beaches and land and marshes until in fact it either sinks below the surface or it is in fact recovered. Therefore, there appears to be a need in the industry for a system that can recover the oil while it is still on the surface of the body of water and prior to it reaching land or prior to it gaining a certain amount of chemical formation and begin to sink into the water.